Musical bridge-building between Israel-Palestine -- David Broza

Singer-composer David Broza was born in Haifa in 1955, lived in England, Spain (where he learned flamenco, a major element in his music), while still in his teens served in the Israeli army and played in cafes. Since then he has lived in the USA and Israel, where he has become one of the leading voices of the peace movement. In 1977, when he was 22, he wrote יהיה טוב (Yehieh Tov: Things will Get Better) which became the anthem of the peace movement. This is his 2013 performance of the song in New York.

In the 1980s his grandfather joined the bicultural Arab-Israeli peace settlement, NeveShalom – Wāħat as-Salām (The Oasis of Peace) and its School of Peace, which in 1989 won the Beyond War Award, and inspired a continuing Jewish-Palestinian Living Room Dialogue Group in the USA. Grace Feuerverger's book Oasis of Dreams: Teaching and Learning Peace in a Jewish-Palestinian Village (2001) quotes one of the villagers:

The Neve Shalom/Wahat Al-Salam experience humanizes the conflict.It is called an oasis, but only as compared to other areas in the country. The village has many difficulties but at least we are not being broken. We do have personal squabbles as in any village, but we are living the conflict instead of fighting it.

Out of this experience has come his latest album, East Jerusalem/West Jerusalem (listen to the online sampler), just released on S-Curve Records, in which Israeli and Palestinian musicians, including the Mira Awad, Shaa'nan Streett of Hadag Nahash, West Bank rap duo G-Town and Wyclef Jean play together. 

One of his best-beloved songs is בלב שלי (Belibi, In my heart) from the album Parking Completo. In this 2009 video it is sung at Masada with a joint Arab-Israeli child choir:

Everyday miracles 5: we are stardust

The Hubble telescope shows galaxies out to near-infinity: galaxies sprinkled like stardust to the farthest edges of the universe: video and photo album. Some of the most distant have just been identified by their deep "red shift". This is heic1317a.

Listen to Joni Mitchell's Woodstock as you watch:

I came upon a child of God
He was walking along the road
And I asked him, "Where are you going?"...

We are stardust.We are golden.
And we've got to get ourselves back to the garden.

Then can I walk beside you?
I have come here to lose the smog,
And I feel to be a cog in something turning...

We are stardust. We are golden.
And we've got to get ourselves back to the garden.

By the time we got to Woodstock,
We were half a million strong
And everywhere there was song and celebration.

And I dreamed I saw the bombers
Riding shotgun in the sky,
And they were turning into butterflies
Above our nation.

We are stardust.
Billion year old carbon.
We are golden..
Caught in the devil's bargain
And we've got to get ourselves back to the garden.

Further reading: Quaker Mary Coelho on the new cosmology. Biologist Edward J Greding Jr, Journey into Deep Time. Brian Swimme and Thomas Berry book The Universe Story (1992). Feature film Journey of the universe (2011) by Swimme and Mary Ellen Tucker of Yale FORE. Sam Guarnaccia's music Emergent Universe Oratorio (Sep 2013).

Bottle this -- by evalyn parry

(see evalynparry.com) This award-winning songwriter, spokenword poet and theatre creator sings of cycling heroines, sailors, 'feminine protection', bottled water, and the quest for the Northwest Passage. Accompanying herself on guitar, water bottle, shruti box and loop pedals, parry shoots from the hip and aims for the heart. Her most recent show SPIN (starring the Bicycle as muse, musical instrument, and agent of social change) is now touring internationally; part theatre, part musical gig, part spoken-word poetry and part documentary…whatever it is, it is brilliant.” (Toronto Star)


Just hold on before we go any farther –
I want to take a moment to talk about water.

That liquid that you're holding, that bottle in your hand,
you though it was water you were drinking, not a corporate brand.
You thought it was cleaner and safer, and better for your health,
but were you thinking about who profits from the wealth
of the public water that's been taken for free
and sold back to you for an exorbitant fee?
Listen my friends, listen up folks:
Aquafina is Pepsi. Dansani is Coke.
They're selling filtered tap water and this is not a joke.
These corporate giants buy tap water
at a tax-free-super-discount,
filter it five times, then sell it back to you
for five thousand times the amount
you pay for running water from your tap,
and when I start thinking about that,
my blood starts to boil, my head starts to spin
as I try to understand where to begin.

That H20, the bottle you just tossed,
it represents garbage, safety and cost,
and water table depletion, which is all our of loss.
Let's talk about land-fill:
plastic bottles piled high
slowly decomposing, leaching toxins back into our water supply.
Furthermore, the more water bottles we buy,
the more we send a signal to the powers that be
that we believe the fear that they're selling us about water safety.
We're swallowing the idea that good water isn't free,
that of course one must pay for water of quality.
Meanwhile, beyond the periphery of our rich country
(where, incidentally, tap water is actually tested far more stringently and regularly
than bottled water) women walk farther and farther
to find water for their families,
a desert spreading rapidly,
while we sit sipping on a billion dollar industry.

They say 'water is the new oil!'
Water is the new oil!
And Canada's got it, so this war will come to our soil.
But oil is a luxury; water a necessity.
We're fighting over oil 'cause we like to drive cars,
'cause trucks must deliver, 'cause we want to fly to Mars.
But a body can only live without water for so long.
Water should not belong to anyone.
Water belongs to everyone.
Water must be public,
water must be free,
clean water should not be a commodity
to be bought and sold on the open market,
which pits those who can afford it against those in need.
Water is a human right, not a luxury.
Water is a human right, not a luxury.
You gotta think
about what you drink.
Think! Think about what you drink.

Let's talk about India, let's talk about Africa
let's talk about China, or right here, in North America.
Let's talk about the watersheds and aquafers,
let's talk about Walkerton and Native reserves.
This matter is urgent, it requires our attention,
it demands immediate public intervention.
If we're going to be paying, it should be for water from our tap,
ensuring it remains reliable, clean and safe, so that
we can take a container, fill it again and again,
fill our bodies with the water we need and then
leave enough for our neighbours, enough for the farmers
enough for the future, our sons and our daughters.
It's the blood of the earth in that bottle right there,
a resource we have no choice but to share.
Before you buy another bottle and down what's in there
Think
about what you drink.
Think! Think about what you drink.

Maybe I'm preaching to the choir, to the converted masses,
the concerned and the conscious, the educated classes.
But even you out there, who already know everything I've said,
how many times does convenience win out instead
of what we know is right, and what we know we should do?
You know ignoring the facts doesn't make them less true.
Think about what you drink.
Think! Think about what you drink

Tell your friend, tell your neighbour, write a letter to your leader
it is never true that there is nothing you can do:
you can think
about what you drink.
 Think! Think about what you drink.

Water must be public, water must be free,
clean water is a human right, not a luxury.
Think about what you drink.
Think! Think about what you drink.

© evalyn parry (SOCAN) 2007, all rights reserved

See also blueplanetproject.net, bottledwaterfreeday.ca, foodandwaterwatch.org, and Annie Leonard's animation The Story of Bottled Water (2010)

Treasure Island of a different kind: Asinabka Festival celebrates indigenous arts -- by Maureen Korp

This article is cross-posted from Epoch Times 23 July 2013 with permission. Maureen Korp, PhD is an independent scholar, curator, and writer who lives in Ottawa. Author of many publications, she has lectured in Asia, Europe, and North America on the histories of art and religions. E-mail: miki.korp@gmail.com. See also asinabkafestival.org/Gallery.html and her review of movies shown at the indigenous film festival. 

The world’s indigenous cultures never died; the world is waking up today to the stories indigenous peoples have to tell. -- Festival founder Chris Wong

"Heartbeats," a sculpture by Christian Chapman, is part of the Asinabka Film and Media Arts Festival in downtown Ottawa. (Tom Bilenky)

Asinabka means “shining rock” in the ancient language of the Algonquin people of Canada. It is the traditional name of a lovely island in the midst of the Ottawa River, an island within sight of Parliament as well as the Canadian War Museum and the Canadian Museum of Civilization. From time immemorial the First Nations of Canada have known Asinabka as a meeting place, a safe respite for peoples who travelled long distances to cross the river from here to there. The island, like all the rest of the land upon which the City of Ottawa sits, has never been ceded to the Crown.

Asinabka remains Algonquin territory. However, on most maps, Asinabka is called “Victoria Island.” Asinabka is also the name of a five-day film and media arts festival July 24-28 in downtown Ottawa. The festival, now in its second year, was founded by Howard Adler and Chris Wong, who met as students at Carleton University.

In 2011, Wong and Adler began to talk about the possibility of a festival celebrating contemporary film as an indigenous medium — a medium of storytelling and narrative imagery arising from within indigenous cultures. A few months later, in 2012, they saw the realization of their early discussions.

The first international Asinabka came into being: a film and media arts festival “celebrating Indigenous arts in Algonquin Territory.”

This year’s Asinabka festival program features contemporary work from artists the world over, including work from indigenous artists based in Australia, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Russia, and the United States. Common program story lines and themes include: the importance of the land, the role of women in indigenous cultures, matters of sovereignty, and coming of age stories.

In Ottawa, these issues were particularly brought to the forefront by last winter’s Idle No More protest and Chief Theresa Spence’s fast, which took place on Victoria Island. Wong notes similar stories are being told the world over. “We live in a world culture,” he says. “The world’s indigenous cultures never died; the world is waking up today to the stories indigenous peoples have to tell.”

As a medium, film and photography began to be used everywhere in the world at about the same time—nearly 100 years ago. One outcome, indeed, is a commonality of direction in the work of many international filmmakers.

The Asinabka festival also includes other visual and performing arts. In two downtown galleries, the moving image gives way to performance and visual art. Exhibitions of work by artists of First Nations heritage can be seen at Gallery 101 and Fall Down Gallery.

“In-Digital: an exhibition of new artwork by Jason Baerg and Christian Chapman,” curated by Adler and Wong, opened June 28 at Gallery 101. Its title, “In-Digital” is a nice play on words indicating both the artists’ medium—their use of digital photography and computer programming—as well as their own heritage and point of view. Christian Chapman is a Fort William First Nations artist and Jason Baerg is a registered member of the Metis Nations of Saskatchewan.

Walking into Gallery 101, the visitor hears first a heartbeat, an insistent, soft heartbeat. It emanates from a pow-wow drum, large enough so four drummers might sit around it and drum together. They are not there today. The sound the visitor hears is a recording affixed somewhere underneath the drum.

As many will know, drumming arises from ancient perceptions of nature’s heartbeat. But for those who do not know, whose eardrums are so bombarded by headphones, Chapman has painted the image of a human heart in the centre of the drum. The heartbeat we hear is the artist’s own, recorded so others might hear it, too. The sculpture is titled “Heartbeats.”

The drum, the flute, and the bullroarer are the oldest instruments—besides our voices—known in human history. Evidence of their use by ancient peoples is found the world over.

Above Chapman’s sound sculpture is a triptych titled “The Past, Present, and Future of the Anishnabe People.” He has arranged pixilated portraits of Queen Elizabeth and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, aka Kate Middleton, in three panels. The left panel uses a portrait of Elizabeth as a young woman, the centre shows us the Queen today, and the right is a profile image of Kate. The baby Kate bears may one day ascend the throne. From this point of view, the triptych’s three portraits do, indeed, show the Crown’s “past, present, and future.”

However, the story being told here is that of the Anishnabe peoples of the Eastern Woodlands. Each woman’s portrait is enveloped in the dynamic imagery of Woodlands tradition and vision, imagery made visible by such artists as Jackson Beardy and Norval Morrisseau. At any moment Kate or Elizabeth might complete her transformation into… well, we do not know. But both Kate and Elizabeth are women, and tradition tells us that women listen well to the heartbeat of nature.

Another work by Baerg, “Relations,” hangs on two large walls of the gallery. In this setting, the installation is comprised of four large digital prints on canvas and a digital video projection of imagery derived from Facebook profile pictures. The video projection documents and reveals the artist’s source data for his austere, disciplined, dynamic compositions of colour and line patterning the four digital prints.

The video projection is constantly in flux. The movement of its imagery aligns well with the rhythm of the drum’s heartbeat across the room. Whether by happenstance or design, the patter of Chapman’s sound sculpture with Baerg’s computer projection is a sensible and felicitous conjunction.

Wong and Adler hope their work organizing Asinabka will enable Ottawa audiences to see the world’s global culture more clearly. They have planned well toward this end.

Asinabka will screen 31 films in all, including 26 short films, plus an unknown number of others to be created during the festival’s four-day video workshop. Film programs are shown in cooperation with the National Gallery of Canada, July 25; and at Club Saw, July 27, 28.
The Festival opens July 24 on Victoria Island with a free public screening of “The Lesser Blessed,” directed by Anita Doron and written by Richard Van Camp.
“In-Digital: an exhibition of new artwork by Jason Baerg and Christian Chapman” will remain on view until August 10 at Gallery 101.

The Recycled Orchestra of Paraguay

Landfill Harmonic is a forthcoming feature-length documentary about an orchestra in the Cateura Dump, Paraguay, where child musicians play instruments made from waste materials. It shows their rise through music from a life of danger and poverty.

The video crew: Jennifer Redfearn and Tim Fabrizio shot the early footage. Graham Townsley and Neil Barrett are shooting the full-length feature doc of which this is a part.
 
Quotations from Norman Lebrecht's blog: 

Favio Chavez, director of the Recycled Orchestra, worked as an ecological technician at the dump. “One day it occurred to me to teach music to the children of the recyclers and use my personal instruments,” he explains. “But it got to the point that there were too many students and not enough supply. So that’s when I decided to experiment and try to actually create a few.”

Cateura, on the banks of the Paraguay River, the landfill receives over 1,500 more tons of solid waste each day. Poor management of the waste has caused critical pollution to the most important water source in the country and threatens the health of its residents.

There are seven different neighborhoods built around the landfill, accounting for over 2500 families living in close proximity to dangerous waste. Drugs and gangs add to the dangers.

Whole families, including children, are employed by the landfill as garbage pickers. Poverty forces them into child labour and keeps them from getting educated.

Working beside the families for years Chávez eventually made friends and became acutely aware that the children needed something positive in their lives. He began using the trash in the landfill to create instruments for the children.

Paraguay has one of the world's highest inequality ratings. For more news of Paraguayan poverty, the struggle by poor peasants and indigenes against greedy landowners, the rightwing coup against reform president Lugo, and the “green desert” created by soy monoculture -- see 

UNICEF, Web Guide Paraguay, Global Voices Online, Wikipedia, IPS, and Friends of the Earth International (FOEI) in English and en español.

The lament of Bonny Portmore -- sung by Loreena McKennit

O bonny Portmore, you shine where you stand
And the more I think on you the more I think long
If I had you now as I had once before
All the lords in Old England would not purchase Portmore.

O bonny Portmore, I am sorry to see
Such a woeful destruction of your ornament tree
For it stood on your shore for many's the long day
Till the long boats from Antrim came to float it away.

O bonny Portmore, you shine where you stand
And the more I think on you the more I think long
If I had you now as I had once before
All the Lords in Old England would not purchase Portmore.

All the birds in the forest they bitterly weep
Saying, "Where shall we shelter or where shall we sleep?"
For the Oak and the Ash, they are all cutten down
And the walls of bonny Portmore are all down to the ground.

O bonny Portmore, you shine where you stand
And the more I think on you the more I think long
If I had you now as I had once before
All the Lords of Old England would not purchase Portmore.

Jazz with the Baha'i

Dizzy Gillespie

The John Birks Gillespie Auditorium in the New York City Bahá'í Center is dedicated to the late jazz great Dizzy Gillespie, who was a Bahá'í. His former pianist and musical director, Mike Longo, presents weekly jazz concerts there every Tuesday evening with The New York State of the Art Jazz Ensemble whose vocalist Hilary Gardner returns from her successful role as the lead singer in Twyla Tharp’s Broadway Tribute to Frank Sinatra “Come Fly Away”. Charlie Persip, Warren Chiasson, Chip White, Freddie Hendricks, Benny Powell, Annie Ross, Jimmy Owens, Daoud David Williams and others are featured. Subscribe to Jazz Night RSS feed for announcements.

Watch live streaming video from jazztuesdays at livestream.com

Lifting hearts, raising money -- musician Maurice Kirya

Ugandan musician Maurice Kirya talks about the arts and how African youth can fight poverty.

Influenced by the beauty and unique spirit of his home, Uganda, Maurice Kirya’s ‘Mwooyo’ music blends soul, Afro, and R&B. A professional singer at age 15, he recorded with popular Ugandan gospel, rap, and jazz artists and as "Mister Deejay" hosts a radio show showcasing live acts from all over Africa. In 2007 he won a Pearl of African Music Award. In 2008 he and his friend Kawesa staged a “Music with Heart” concert to raise funds for open heart surgery at the children’s charity ward in the International Hospital Kampala.

Gung Haggis Fat Choy!

Todd Wong combines Chinese New Year with Robbie Burns Day: poetry slam with Kung Fu, highland dancers with sheng players, erhu and bagpipes, dragon boat racing, and a banquet with deep-fried haggis wonton. Seattle and other cities are copying.

"Toddish McWong" in the Sun Yat-Sen garden, Vancouver, with accordion and MacLeod tartan -- Deb Martin photo, courtesy of Globe and Mail 17 Jan 2011.

Gung Haggis Fat Choy! started in 1993 at Simon Fraser University when Todd Wong, a student and 5th generation Fascinated by the similarities of martial arts, ancient music and ancient foods, "Toddish McWong" created a Vancouver BC tradition. In 2007 he fund-raised to save Japanese-Canadian author Joy Kogawa's childhood home from demolition. Eighteen years later, he serves dinner for a thousand  and races with the GHFC dragon boat team, whose uniform is a Fraser Hunting kilt and a red shirt decorated with Chinese style "lucky" gold coins.
 
This Is Who We Are: Scots in Canada exhibition toured Canada and Scotland in 2009, featuring among other photos, Wong in a lion mask (right, a different pic from the one in the exhibition, tartan unidentified).








Left, Robin Hood tax mask from Adbusters mag.

For more cultural hybrids, see Todd Wong's GHFC webpage, a 2004 CBC-TV video clip, Brave Waves fusion music, Ricepaper (especially its green issue) and Adbusters magazines.

Singing to change the world

Stories can conquer fear, you know. They can make the heart larger.” - Ben Okri, Nigerian author.

“Africans have this thing called ‘ubuntu’. We believe that a person is a person through another person, that my humanity is bound up, inextricably, with yours. - Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, member of The Elders.

Map by nordpil.com from The Environmental Food Crisis (UNEP, 2009)

Artists, writers and musicians can help change the world!  

For COP-17 at Durban, a coalition of ecojustice NGOs in Moving-Planet.org launched a "RadioWave" campaign. They urge that you contact local radio stations (tips on how to get air plays, and report successes) to play the song “People Power” and related podcasts. The song calls us to action — using people power to change the world and create a brighter future.

Lyrics of “People Power” by singers Marie Daulne (Congo), Angelique Kidjo (Benin), Talib Kweli (USA), Ahmed Soultan (Morocco), Jabulani Tsambo and Zolani Mahola (S.Africa); instrumentalists are Yaw Asumadu – djembe, dondo, kpanlogo drums (Ghana); Tinotenda Dambaneunga – drums (South Africa); Hassan Erraji – oud, darabuka, bendir (Morocco); Sonah Jobarteh – kora (Gambia/U.K.); bra Themba Mokoena – guitar (South Africa); Korey Riker – tenor sax, baritone sax (U.S.); Gama Sibeko – percussion (South Africa); Ahmed Soultan – Rik, Derbuka, Tarra and clap (Morocco); Anthony Tidd – guitar, bass, keyboard (U.S.); Steve Tirpak – trombone, trumpet (U.S.).

Angelique Kidjo (singing in Fon, the language of Benin)

Let’s get together


Let’s all get involved


In changing the world

...

Talib Kweli (American hip-hop)

Everybody wanna be a gangster
 
Wavin their flag for the set they claim
 
democrat, republican, crip or blood you can switch it up, really it’s all the same
 
Just corrupted agendas, public offenders, they ain’t come to defend us
, Government is against us, workin’ for corporate interests, we’ve been hoodwinked.
 
They walkin’ all over you with carbon footprints

But look man we gotta find common ground, a common theme on which we gotta agree
 
We need the sea, we need the trees, we need the air, we got to breathe
 
fossil fuels got us livin' like dinosaurs, eatin' up the resources like carnivores
 
What we need is a new energy solution, for mother nature is not the enemy.

CHORUS


Turn it around


Drilling for energy, like you cannot see the Sun


Iphendule [‘turn it around’ in isiZulu ]


This earth belongs to everyone


Turn it around


Mining for energy, like you’ve never felt the wind


Iphendule [‘turn it around’ in isiZulu ]


Time to change so we can live

HOOK CHORUS in isiZulu
 [in English]

Jika Turn


Umhlabawethu This world is our world


Jika Turn


Masihlangane Let’s get together


Jika Turn


Umoya wethu This is our spirit


Jika Turn


Simuntumunye We are one or none

Download the song and additional podcasts here.

Moving-Planet comments: "Africa is the continent that is most vulnerable to climate change (according to the recent Maplecroft report, of the world’s most highly vulnerable countries, approximately two-thirds are located in Africa). These impacts include more severe droughts, increasing deserts, worsening storms that damage people’s croplands, and sea level rise affecting the coastal communities.  People in the Eastern Horn of Africa are already being forced off their homelands due to the drought and famine made worse by climate change. The African continent also has a rich history and recent past of fighting injustice, of creativity, of perseverance, of communal caring, and of traditional wisdom of living in harmony with nature. And it is the birthplace of humanity – all people, the world over, carry memories of Africa in their cells."

“Global warming is set to make many of the problems which Africa already deals with, much, much worse. …The great tragedy is that Africa has played virtually no role in global warming, a problem caused by economic activity of the rich, industrial countries.” - Andrew Simms, New Economics Foundation

Protest songs of the 2010s Occupy movement

Aloe Blacc, I need a dollar

Justin Sane, The economy is suffering (at Occupy Wall Street)

Everlast, I get by

Tupuc Amanu Shakur, Ghetto Gospel

John Howard, With a Little Bit Of Luck

Ronnie Dunn, Cost of Livin'

and Tom Morello's album, World Wide Rebel Songs
Other suggestions?

What all humans share - Bobby McFerrin dances the pentatonic scale

See more such videos from the World Science Festival Notes and Neurons 2009.

Musicians and scientists say our brains are hardwired for certain elements of music. Peter Kim comments, "certain basic rhythmic and pitch elements – belying rich complexities of psychoacoustic phenomena underneath – do indeed seem to be universal. To me, that profound universality says something about what we share as human beings. At the same time, it makes me even more interested in all of the local details. When playing Balinese gamelan, some Western-trained musicians literally turned up their noses because they said the results sounded “out of tune.” Like a pungent flavoring in a foreign food, they discovered something unfamiliar. (I wonder if they would have the same reaction to sambal.) Of course, the underlying pitch systems are related to pentatonic (and heptatonic) pitch collections. And the same thing that disturbed one person has excited other musicians – not simply because it’s exotic, but because it can speak to something deeper in our hearing that we don’t get from other music."

See also ex-rocker now-neurologist Daniel Levitin's This Is Your Brain on Music, (click on brain picture), Oliver Sacks' Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain, NYT reviewer Alex Ross, The Rest is Noise on 20th c music , and Geoff Dyer's But Beautiful on jazz. The latter two are not about neural patterns, just riffs on music.

At Sea -- by Ingrid jensen

We invite you a do-it-yourself music video. Make your own sound track by playing Ingrid Jensen's wonderful trumpet track over this video of the Salish Sea where she grew up (the Gulf of Georgia, BC-- more precisely at Cedar, on Vancouver Island near Nanaimo).

Mute the surf on the video. Then click on At Sea to start the sound. You can also try watching Bennybubi's fine Vancouver Island video with the sound off.

*****

More about Ingrid Jensen, the best living woman trumpeter: her official site, Wikipedia, Enja records profile, and a recent interview by James Kass.

Symphony of Science -- Carl Sagan and others

See more at SymphonyofScience.com, a musical mashup project headed by Seattle musician John Boswell. Into his original compositions, he remixes pitch-corrected audio and video samples of Carl Sagan, Richard Feynmann, Neil de Grasse Tyson, Bill Nye, Ann Druyan, and Steve Soter from PBS Cosmos, Richard Dawkins' Genius of Charles Darwin, Dawkins' TED Talk, Stephen Hawking's Universe, Michio Kaku's interview on Physics and aliens, with added visuals from Baraka, Koyaanisqatsi, History Channel's Universe series, and IMAX Cosmic Voyage. Other influences are Joseph Jastrow, Brian Swimme, and Thomas Berry. The songs explore our origins within the universe, challenging human pretentions to a superior or privileged position, either on our home planet or in the universe itself. See other SOS songs here.

The Waters of March in Quebec and Brazil -- by Mary Soderstrom, Tom Jobim & Elis Regina

Mary Soderstrom's blog Recreating Eden is a constant delight. Here are some samples:

13 March: Once upon a time this stream ran down the north side of Mount Royal to pool in Outremont, forming bogs which have since been transformed into Outremont and Saint Viateur parks. Now it runs through concrete pipe for some of its route, but in places it still sees the light of day. The photo was taken in Mount Royal cemetery where it is allowed to meander a bit. This morning, despite temperatures below freezing, there was no ice on it as it burbled away. More signs of spring.

16 March: Snowdrops in the front yard. When these started to show their heads a week ago, I was delighted to see that they've spread. Another triumph of Darwinian gardening! (That is: what will grow, will grow. Won't won't, we won't worry about.)

3 March: The first time I heard the excellent song "The Waters of March" by Tom Jobim, the rushing streams of spring were what I thought of, but now I realize that the waters referred to are really the fall rains after the Brazilian summer. Peu importe, as they say around here. It's a great song and very appropriate.
[Sung by Elis Regina (1945-82) -- nicknamed "furacão" ("hurricane") and "pimentinha" ("little pepper") -- Brazil's equivalent of Billie Holiday. Jobim's musical structure echoes the downward flow of drops, streams, gathering into rivers: the end of a season or a life, and the promise of renewal. - Ed.]

Lyrics

Águas de Março É pau, é pedra, é o fim do caminho É um resto de toco, é um pouco sozinho É um caco de vidro, é a vida, é o sol É a noite, é a morte, é o laço, é o anzol É peroba do campo, é o nó da madeira Caingá candeia, é o matita-pereira É madeira de vento, tombo da ribanceira É o mistério profundo, é o queira ou não queira É o vento ventando, é o fim da ladeira É a viga, é o vão, festa da cumeeira É a chuva chovendo, é conversa ribeira Das águas de março, é o fim da canseira É o pé, é o chão, é a marcha estradeira Passarinho na mão, pedra de atiradeira É uma ave no céu, é uma ave no chão É um regato, é uma fonte, é um pedaço de pão É o fundo do poço, é o fim do caminho No rosto o desgosto, é um pouco sozinho É um estrepe, é um prego, é uma ponta, é um ponto É um pingo pingando, é uma conta, é um conto É um peixe, é um gesto, é uma prata brilhando É a luz da manhã, é o tijolo chegando É a lenha, é o dia, é o fim da picada É a garrafa de cana, o estilhaço na estrada É o projeto da casa, é o corpo na cama É o carro enguiçado, é a lama, é a lama É um passo, é uma ponte, é um sapo, é uma rã É um resto de mato, na luz da manhã São as águas de março fechando o verão É a promessa de vida no teu coração É uma cobra, é um pau, é João, é José É um espinho na mão, é um corte no pé São as águas de março fechando o verão, É a promessa de vida no teu coração É pau, é pedra, é o fim do caminho É um resto de toco, é um pouco sozinho São as águas de março fechando o verão, É a promessa de vida no teu coração É um passo, é uma ponte, é um sapo, é uma rã É um belo horizonte, é uma febre terçã São as águas de março fechando o verão É a promessa de vida no teu coração pau, pedra, fim do caminho resto de toco, pouco sozinho (bis) São as águas de março fechando o verão É a promessa de vida no teu coração.

The Waters of March A stick, a stone, It's the end of the road, It's the rest of a stump, It's a little alone It's a sliver of glass, It is life, it's the sun, It is night, it is death, It's a trap, it's a gun A pink plank of peroba A knot in the wood, A fox in the brush, The song of a thrush The wood of the wind, A cliff, a fall, A mysterious yearning Or nothing at all It's the wind blowing free, It's the end of the slope, It's a beam, it's a void, It's a hunch, it's a hope And the rain rains down And the river bank talks Of the promise of Spring Of the joy in your heart. The foot, the ground, The flesh and the bone, The beat of the road, A slingshot's stone. It's a bird in the sky It's a bird in the bush It's a buy, it's a gush. It's a morsel of bread. The bed of the well, The end of the line, Dismay in the face, At a little pain. A spear, a spike, A point, a nail, A drip, a drop, A story, a tale It`s a fish, it's a flash In the soft shining light, A truckload of bricks At the end of the night. It's a league, it's a day The end of a bite, It's a bottle of booze And a thorn in the foot. The plan of a house, A body in bed, And the car that got stuck In the mud, it's the mud. It's a step, it's a road, It's a frog, it's a toad, It's a bit of weed left In the morning light. And the waters of March Say the summer's end, Of the promise of life Of the joy in your heart. A snake, a stick, It is John, it is Joe, It's a thorn in your hand and a cut in your toe And the waters of March Say the summer's end, Of the promise of life Of the joy in your heart. It's a stick, it's a stone, It's the end of the line What remains of a touch, Of a little pain. And the waters of March Say the summer's end, Of the promise of life Of the joy in your heart. It's a step, it's a road, It's a frog, it's a toad, It's a sky clearing, It's a fever breaking. And the waters of March Say the summer's end, Of the promise of life Of the joy in your heart. Stick, stone, End of the line, Remains of a touch, A little pain. (Repeat) And the waters of March Say the summer's end, Of the promise of life Of the joy in your heart.

*****

Mary Soderstrom’s blog Recreating Eden continues the themes of her books The Walkable City (2009), Green City: People, Nature & Urban Places (2007), and Recreating Eden: A Natural History of Botanical Gardens (2006). She has published several novels including The Violets of Usambara (2008). She lives in Montreal.

Defender la "Madre Tierra" en Cochabamba -- declaración de Forum Social Mundial

Madre Tierra: música de Macaco

Defender la "Madre Tierra" en Cochabamba

(version en portuguès en bajo)

Mayores precisiones en Porto Alegre 28 de enero 2010 sobre la propuesta boliviana en la Conferencia sobre el cambio climático de Copenhage.

En la noche del 18 al 19 de diciembre, en Copenhage, pocos gobiernos se opusieron abiertamente al texto presentado por los EEUU, China Brasil, India y Sudáfrica. Entre ellos Bolivia, representada por Evo Morales, presidente ampliamente reelegido en su país hacía apenas un mes, quién condenó firmemente dicho acuerdo tanto en su forma – por haber sido discutido en un pequeño comité sin respetar los procedimientos de trabajo de las Naciones Unidas –como por su contenido: un texto más reducido con relación a las recomendaciones del GIEC sin ningún compromiso imperioso y sin reales garantías de financiación para los países más pobres.

Algunos días después, las redes de militantes recibían una invitación firmada por Evo Morales para una “Conferencia Mundial de los Pueblos sobre el cambio climático y los derechos de la Madre Tierra” a realizarse en Cochabamba entre el 19 y el 22 de abril de 2010. Existe un sitio web: http://cmpcc.org/ pero aunque la experiencia boliviana despertó muchas esperanzas e interés entre los movimientos populares aún existían muchos interrogantes sobre la naturaleza y el objetivo de dicha conferencia. Pablo Solon, embajador de Bolivia ante las Naciones Unidas, viejo militante y asiduo concurrente a los Foros sociales vino a Porto Alegre facilitando la comprensión de la propuesta boliviana.

Ante el fracaso de Copenhage y la presión de los grandes países para convencer a la mayoría de los gobiernos, el firmar a pesar de todo el texto surgido de la Conferencia sobre el clima, Bolivia decide tomar la iniciativa y construir una relación de fuerzas capaz de modificar la agenda internacional.

La idea es original: invitar ampliamente y sin ningún condicionamiento a todos los gobiernos del mundo, a las instituciones internacionales, a los científicos y a todos los movimientos sociales y ONG para trabajar un texto final para encontrar puntos de consenso y tratar temas que quedaron por debatir.

Gran cantidad de gobiernos han anunciado ya su asistencia, incluidos América del Norte y la Unión Europea, de acuerdo con los objetivos bolivianos de reunir a numerosos jefes de estado y muchos ministros. Siguiendo la misma lógica los bolivianos esperan contar con la presencia de los organismos de las Naciones Unidas, aunque queda por definir aspectos relacionados con sus niveles de representación, lo mismo que para los gobiernos. Muchos movimientos sociales y científicos han demostrado ya su interés y confirmado algunos su asistencia.

La conferencia tiene seis objetivos:

- analizar las causas estructurales que provocan los cambios climáticos y proponer soluciones que permitan el bienestar de la humanidad en armonía con la naturaleza.

- discutir y decidir la formulación de un proyecto de “Declaración Universal de los derechos de la Madre Tierra”,

- discutir propuestas para un nuevo acuerdo en el marco de la ONU,

-trabajar en la organización de un Referéndum mundial de los Pueblos sobre los cambios climáticos.

- avanzar en la formulación de un plan de acción para la creación de un tribunal internacional para la Justicia climática.

- definir las estrategias de acción y de movilización frente al cambio climático y sobre los derechos de la “Madre Tierra”

Los debates se hallarán organizados por temas, algunos de ellos derivados directamente de las discusiones planteadas en el seno de la ONU, otros con un enfoque más general. Han sido identificados seis temas (ver más detalles en http://cmpcc.org/), pero se agregaran otros hasta un límite de veinte relacionado con la capacidad del espacio y de traducción disponibles ( que estará asegurada en inglés y español). El objetivo de los debates será redactar declaraciones cortas que se incluirán en el texto final, debates que comenzarán a partir de febrero a través de intercambios de correo electrónico. Junto a estos debates temáticos tendrán lugar una serie de actividades auto-organizadas y de conferencias científicas

Se recomienda finalmente conformar comités nacionales de preparación de la conferencia, lo que permitirá la eventual creación de un movimiento o de una red después de Cochabamba.

Pueden realizarse desde ya, todas las objeciones que fueren necesarias frente a esta propuesta. Los tiempos son muy cortos e ir a Cochabamba es caro en tiempo y dinero. Una mezcla semejante entre representantes de movimientos sociales, de gobierno y de instituciones internacionales va a ocasionar problemas a estructuras que tienden a conservar la mayor autonomía posible. La organización misma de la conferencia, sin comité organizador, tiene la ventaja de no herir susceptibilidades (quién está y quién no) pero planteará inevitablemente problemas de legitimidad durante la conferencia en sí misma. Nada será posible en el plano internacional para los movimientos sociales sin internet y correo electrónico, pero todo el mundo sabe lo difícil que es organizar estos debates con esos instrumentos. Etc.,etc.

Pero al mismo tiempo queda claro aquí en Porto alegre, que todos los movimientos sociales de América Latina estarán representados en Cochabamba, como también numerosas delegaciones de otros continentes conscientes de la urgencia de conformar un frente lo más amplio posible para imponer verdaderas medidas, en el plano internacional frente al cambio climático. Y todos sabemos que en períodos de incertidumbre y de transición como los que atravesamos, las iniciativas que pueden aparecer como las más locas y más irrealizables son las que a veces cambian el curso de la historia. ..

Christophe Aguiton y Nicola Bullard

Porto Alegre, 28 de enero de 2010

Defendendo a Mãe Terra em Cochabamba

Um informe de Porto Alegre sobre a iniciativa boliviana sobre a mudança climática

Na noite de 18 para 19 de dezembro, em Copenhague, um punhado de governos opôs-se ao texto apresentado pelos Estados Unidos, China, Brasil, Índia e África do Sul. Entre estes poucos, a Bolívia – representada pelo presidente Evo Morales, que tinha sido reeleito apenas alguns dias antes por uma maioria esmagadora – condenou fortemente tanto o processo (o texto foi discutido em pequenos grupos fora da ONU) como o seu conteúdo, que ficou muito longe de qualquer coisa próxima às recomendações do IPCC, não inclui nenhum limite às emissões ou compromissos de financiamento para o Sul.

Poucos dias depois, o presidente Morales lançou um convite para a Conferência Mundial dos Povos sobre a Mudança Climática e os Direitos da Mãe Terra, em Cochabamba, Bolívia, de 19 a 22 de abril de 2010. Embora a iniciativa de Morales tenha levantado muito interesse e entusiasmo de redes de ativistas através do mundo, há ainda muitas questões sobre a natureza e os objetivos da conferência. Pablo Sólon, embaixador da Bolívia nas Nações Unidas e um veterano do Fórum Social Mundial, veio a Porto Alegre, nos eventos do décimo ano do Fórum Social Mundial, para compartilhar informações e reunir apoio para a conferência. Ele passou três horas reunido com ativistas e movimentos de justiça climática e houve uma troca de informações e opiniões muito útil.

Na seqüência do fracasso de Copenhague e da pressão crescente para os governos assinarem o Acordo de Copenhague, a Bolívia acredita que é vital tomar alguma iniciativa imediata para mudar a correlação de forças para deslocar a agenda internacional. A proposta é original: convidar todos os governos, agências da ONU, cientistas, movimentos sociais e ONGs – sem condições – para participar em grupos de trabalho e preparar conclusões e uma declaração final.

Até agora, vários governos indicaram que eles comparecerão, incluindo alguns de países latino-americanos e europeus. O objetivo dos bolivianos é ter vários chefes de estado e um grande número de ministros. Os bolivianos também estão seguros quanto à participação de algumas agências da ONU, mas está em aberto a questão do nível de representação dos governos e das agências da ONU. Muitos ativistas e cientistas mostraram interesse e vários já confirmaram sua participação.

A conferência tem seis objetivos:
- analisar as causas estruturais e sistêmicas da mudança climática e propor medidas efetivas para facilitar o bem-estar de toda a humanidade em harmonia com a natureza.
- discutir e pactar o esboço de uma Declaração Universal dos Direitos da Mãe Terra.
- consensuar propostas para um novo compromisso com o Protocolo de Kyoto e projetos para uma decisão da COP nos Marcos das Nações Unidas para a Mudança Climática, que irão guiar futuras ações daqueles paises que estão engajados de forma duradoura nas negociações sobre mudanças climáticas.
- trabalhar na organização de um referendo mundial popular sobre a mudança climática.
- analisar e delinear um plano de ação para a criação de um Tribunal de Justiça Climática.
- definir estratégias de ação e mobilização em defesa da vida contra a mudança climática e pelos direitos da Mãe Terra.

Até agora foram identificados 16 grupos de trabalho mas outros podem ser acrescentados até o limite de 20 devido aos limites de espaço e tradução (a tradução será somente em espanhol e inglês).

Eles são: causas estruturais; harmonia com a natureza; direitos da Mãe Terra; referendo sobre a mudança climática; Tribunal de Justiça Climática; migrantes e refugiados climáticos; povos indígenas; dívida climática; visão compartilhada; protocolo de Kyoto; adaptação; financiamento; transferência de tecnologia; florestas; perigos do mercado de carbono; estratégias de ação (veja http://cmpcc.org para mais informações)

Os grupos de trabalho prepararão propostas que serão agregadas ao texto final. Os grupos começarão a trabalhar no início de fevereiro por email. Ao lado das questões temáticas, grupos são convidados para auto-organizarem atividades e uma conferência científica também está planejada. Finalmente, os bolivianos estão encorajando a formação de comitês nacionais para preparar a conferência, o que facilitará a criação de um movimento ou uma rede após a conferência.

Muitas objeções podem ser levantadas sobre esta proposta. O tempo é muito curto e viajar a Cochabamba é caro e difícil. Misturar representantes de governos, da agências da ONU, movimentos sociais e ONGs pode criar problemas para muitos dos participantes potenciais que preferem manter sua autonomia. Não há comitê organizador da conferência – o convite vem diretamente de Evo Morales – o que tem a vantagem de evitar debates sobre que faz ou não faz parte do comitê, mas que também cria problemas sobre como a conferência será conduzida. A preparação será feita pela internet, mas todo mundo sabe como é difícil organizar os debates com estes instrumentos e em duas línguas apenas. E assim por diante...

Ao mesmo tempo, ficou claro em Porto Alegre que todos os movimentos sociais da América Latina apoiarão e irão à Cochabamba, bem como muitas delegações de outros continentes, motivados pela necessidade de construir uma grande coalizão global pela justiça climática. E todos sabemos que em períodos de incerteza e transição, como são os que vivemos, iniciativas que podem ser vistas como irrealistas são, de tempos em tempos, aquelas que podem mudar o curso da história.

Christophe Aguiton e Nicola Bullard, Porto Alegre 28 de janeiro de 2010